somnium13:Baku (獏 or 貘) are Japanese supernatural beings that devour dreams and nightmares. Accord
somnium13: Baku (獏 or 貘) are Japanese supernatural beings that devour dreams and nightmares. According to legend, they were created by the spare pieces that were left over when the gods finished creating all other animals. The Japanese term baku has two current meanings, referring to both the traditional dream-devouring creature and to the Malayan tapir. The traditional Japanese nightmare-devouring baku originates in Chinese folklore about the mo 貘 and was familiar in Japan as early as the Muromachi period (14th-15th century). Hori Tadao has described the dream-eating abilities attributed to the traditional baku and relates them to other preventatives against nightmare such as amulets. Kaii-Yōkai Denshō Database, citing a 1957 paper, and Mizuki also describe the dream-devouring capacities of the traditional baku. Illustration (1) by Matthew Meyer -- source link